My first experience at KH

by InChristAlone 16 Replies latest jw friends

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  Listener

  Thanks for the detailed post InChristAlone and for the opportunity to ask you some questions.

  "The focus of the entire talk and WT study seemed to be on taking in an accurate knowledge of God...but not about knowing or experiencing God. To me, this is huge."

  You often hear from members on this forum that when sitting through meetings they feel something is missing and this is probably what it is. I can't understand how we could truelly appreciate God's love if we focus too much on taking in an accurate knowledge. Unfortunately, this is why the org feels a great need to keep pumping out new publications and have grown their organization on this basis.

  I wondered how many people were at this meeting and roughly a break down of ages? In particular the numbers of say 20 to 30 year olds?
• 

  Jeffro

  InChristAlone:

  A different elder came up for the Watchtower Study along with a young man to do the reading. I was surprised that the elder suggested that people should stay for the study. Did that really need to be said?

  Yeah. They do that. It's weird. They like to say they have "four meetings" (previously five) 'meetings' each week, even though there's only really two (previously three) actual gatherings. Particularly with the 'Public Talk', the implication is supposed to be that there may be lots of 'visitors' who would otherwise only stay for the 'first' 'meeting'. However, the audience is usually almost entirely composed of JWs who already expect to stay for 'both' 'meetings', and visitors wouldn't generally make the distinction of a separate 'meeting' anyway.
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  Jeffro

  InChristAlone:

  The focus of the entire talk and WT study seemed to be on taking in an accurate knowledge of God...but not about knowing or experiencing God.

  JW meetings are about indoctrination, not worship. The talks are always based on Watch Tower Society publications, with no real freedom of expression. The prayers are actually just a summary to reinforce the content of the meeting. The songs punctuate the meeting with something not quite as boring as the other content so people aren't sitting down for the full two hours. It's all very regimented.

  Don't get me wrong, I think the worship at other churches is a superstitious waste of time too. But at least it's about the worship.
• 

  extractor

  John 17:3

  Kingdom Interlinear: "But this is the everlasting life in order that they may be knowing you..."

  NWT: "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you..."
• 

  Rocky_Girl

  Interesting observation.

  The meetings are like children's movies (i.e. Shrek); there is superficial content meant for non-jws (like the kid's content in the movie) and there is a deeper layer of content made for the jws (like the adult humor in the movie) that goes over the first audience's head.

  You heard a lot of buzz words and key phrases that most likely made no impression on you because you have no context for it. Any of us, who were in the org for a while and have the teachings burned into our brains, would have an immediate reaction to those words. In jws who are still in, it is a comforting feeling because it is a reinforcement of what they already believe and it causes them to relax and drift in what they feel is an escape from Satan's influence in the world. For us that have left, it can be extremely uncomfortable (in fact, it makes me physically ill) to hear those phrases and words.

  I hope you found what you were looking for in the experience, but be aware that there is an undercurrent at every meeting that is not felt by casual visitors.
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  1009

  Very recognizable.

  John 17:3
  Kingdom Interlinear: "But this is the everlasting life in order that they may be knowing you..."
  NWT: "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you..."

  Although it is true that the NWT uses 'knowledge' here, the explication in the literature is that it involves a personal relationship:

  Many translations of this verse differ slightly from the New World Translation. Instead of saying “taking in knowledge” of God, they simply render the verb “to know” God or “knowing” God. However, a number of scholars note that the sense of the word used in the original Greek involves something more—a continuous process, one that may even lead to intimate acquaintance with another.
  - http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/pl/r1/lp-e?q=w02%2012%2F15%20page%208

  The practice is different though...
• 

  Perry

  Wow....that was very descriptive & familiar.... especially all the bathroom breaks. The bathroom breaks are unique to Jehovah's Witneeses. I haven't noticed them in any other church that I've attended in the past 10 years of church attending. But then again, if your salvation is dependent upon being in "good standing" with a particular church, I suppose you could sit through just about anything as long as you could leave frequently to wake yourself up.